Writing Assignments for - Butler High Media Center

AP English Literature Summer Assignment for
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
by Thomas C. Foster
You are to complete the small writing assignments for the chapters listed below from How to Read Literature
Like a Professor. This assignment should be typed in MLA format (12 point Times Roman Font) and be ready
to turn in the first week of class. If you don’t want to purchase the book, a PDF is available at
http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/huron.english/files/howtoreadliteraturelikeaprofessor_ft.pdf Please be sure you read
the entire book, even though not every chapter has a writing prompt. There will be a test over the entire work
and it will be referenced throughout the course.
Introduction: How'd He Do That?
How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns
make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was
enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern.
Chapter 1 -- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)
List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply them to one of the novels you have read for summer reading.
Chapter 2 -- Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion
Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.
Chapter 3: --Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Apply this to a literary work you have read (doesn’t have to be
summer reading novel).
Chapter 5 --Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you in reading specific works.
Chapter 6 -- When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare...
Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the author uses this
connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects
Shakespeare through both plot and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.
Chapter 8 -- Hanseldee and Greteldum
Think of a work of literature that reflects a fairy tale. Discuss the parallels. Does it create irony or deepen
appreciation?
Chapter 10 -- It's More Than Just Rain or Snow
Discuss the importance of weather in a specific literary work, not in terms of plot.
Interlude -- Does He Mean That
Chapter 11 --...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
Present examples of the two kinds of violence found in literature. Show how the effects are different.
Chapter 12 -- Is That a Symbol?
Use the process described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism in one of your summer reading novels.
Chapter 15 -- Flights of Fancy
Select a literary work in which flight signifies escape or freedom. Explain in detail.
Chapter 16 -- It's All About Sex...
Chapter 17 -- ...Except the Sex
OK ..the sex chapters. The key idea from this chapter is that "scenes in which sex is coded rather than explicit
can work at multiple levels and sometimes be more intense that literal depictions" (141). In other words, sex is
often suggested with much more art and effort than it is described, and, if the author is doing his job, it reflects
and creates theme or character. Choose a novel or movie in which sex is suggested, but not described, and
discuss how the relationship is suggested and how this implication affects the theme or develops
characterization.
Chapter 19 -- Geography Matters…
Discuss at least four different aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under "geography."
Interlude -- One Story
Write your own definition for archetype. Then identify an archetypal story and apply it to a literary work with
which you are familiar.
Chapter 21 -- Marked for Greatness
Figure out Harry Potter's scar. If you aren't familiar with Harry Potter, select another character with a physical
imperfection and analyze its implications for characterization.
Chapter 22 -- He's Blind for a Reason, You Know
Chapter 23 -- It's Never Just Heart Disease...
Chapter 24 -- ...And Rarely Just Illness
Recall two characters who died of a disease in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reflect the "principles
governing the use of disease in literature" (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of the death as related to plot,
theme, or symbolism.
Chapter 25 -- Don't Read with Your Eyes
After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or epic written before the twentieth
century. Contrast how it could be viewed by a reader from the twenty-first century with how it might be viewed
by a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes, assumptions that would not
make it in this century.
Chapter 26 -- Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Select an ironic literary work and explain the nature of the irony in the work.
Chapter 27 -- A Test Case
Read “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, the short story starting on page 245. Complete the exercise
on pages 265-266, following the directions exactly. Then compare your writing with the three examples. How
did you do? What does the essay that follows comparing Laura with Persephone add to your appreciation of
Mansfield's story?